Russian decides to build tyres out of 3000 nails

Ever wondered if it was possible to drive a car with tyres made of nails? Armed with a Lada 110 and some home-made wheels, an intrepid YouTuber found out

National stereotypes can be rather amusing, although often unfounded. The French are actually surprisingly stubborn, the Germans can be quite amusing, and there are plenty of Britons that aren’t willing to stand in line. However, one national stereotype that persists is some of the crazy things the Russians do with cars. Today that involves making tyres out of nails for a Lada.

Nails going into car tyres is never a good thing, but what if you made the tyre out of nails? 3000 of them to be exact. That’s what famed Russian YouTuber Garage 54 wanted to know and so he and some friends set about welding each individual nail to a set of old steel rims — we applaud their patience!

More on Lada...

Studded tyres are perfectly engineered for low-traction surfaces, and while not designed in a lab, in theory these special wheels should… Well, nail it? Lugging these surprisingly heavy creations out of the boot, they were presented with what appears to be an ice-covered airfield. But what noble steed to use when conducting this scientific endeavour? A Lada 110 of course! The 110 is a car of note as its aerodynamic body was actually co-developed with Porsche in Germany.

Strapping the nail tyres on and lowering the car revealed that the nails can actually take the weight and that they prove quite effective on the slippery surface. However, these ‘prototypes’ do have their shortcomings should you feel the need for speed. Although not nine inches in length, the long dimensions of these nails mean they flex and bend under hard acceleration. One of the tyres completely collapsed, although its counterpart with a higher nail count put up a better fight.

So did the Russians hit the nail on the head? Maybe not, but it was pretty entertaining to watch.